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Houston Radio

M

MikeHaarrvey

What's up with Houston Radio People? I'm reading a lot of bitching and whinnying of how things USED to be.
Times change and so do people and formats and so forth. Some of you sound bitter at the fact that corporate radio's greed is snuffing the life out of this industry.

That may be true. It sounds like some of you have been radio too long. It's time for you to jump to the corporate ladder. To many non-radio outsiders are filling in the cracks with the theme of "It's bad radio but it's bringing in the money".

Corporate needs people like you. You've served your time being on the air, dealing ratings, fighting with mangagent. Knowing what people really want to hear. Management doesn't have the vigor and strength that it used to have. Corporate has that power now. Corporate tells you... "You play this, you can't play that, because we pay thousands to consultants to tell us what the listeners want to hear".

You older cats who are trying to die at the microphone have to stop thinking that you can. There is fresh raw talent out there clawing there way up, however, there getting beat down by there own peers who should be there grandfather, or at least there national PD by now.

When I started radio there always was matured talent that was moving up to management. Then you would hear about someone else moving up to national PD and so on...

Instead of complaining and being the Authority of what USED to be. Move Up! Most of you have a great influence in this industry or you wouldn't have been in it this long.

Keep Radio Alive... 4 Reel!!!
 
Some may sound bitter, because management does not listen to them and refuses to listen. Additionally, the upper management doesn't want to pay what they are really worth. Some of us cats who have been on the air a long time may still want to be on the air. There is nothing wrong with that. WE may enjoy 'serving' our time and want to continue to evolve and grow with this business. George Burns was 100 when he died and was still booked and performing, doing what he liked to do-ENTERTAIN! Therefore, YES! We can die at the microphone as you put it.

I had to evolve in this business. In today's radio atmosphere, one has to wear many hats. I am still on doing mornings, production director for two stations and program director at KNTH (however, you already know that, Michael) As far as keeping radio alive for 'reel,' we haven't used reel-to-reel in a real long time.

I need to get my glasses checked, because your name appears to have way too many "R's" and "A's."
 
There may be fresh raw talent out there, however there are very few avenues available to develop this talant. In my day, the overnight and evening shifts were where the talant developed. In some larger markets, many of the late night and overnight jocks could work other dayparts, but when you get to LA, New York, Chicago, what does it matter.

Now a days, with technology, syndicated shows, and yes budget constraints, developing talent seems not to be as important. I also think the Houston has a particular thing ( can't think of the right word), due to the fairly low cost of living, and some of the long term personalities making a pretty fair income, the desire to move to a larger market may not be as important as it once was, therefore talent development almost becomes a mute point. Why develope talent if you don't have to?

I suspect there are some folks on the air who could have moved on, but everything considered, financially speaking, why?
 
I can only speak from my own experience and observations, but people in the creative on-air side of the station rarely move into management and corporate. They are the exception. Not the rule.

There are as many reasons as there are people, but most of the time it's because, as Chuck says, the jocks, production wizards and news reporters rarely want to be on that side of the business. They're happy doing what they're doing and don't want to be shoe-horned into something they know they would hate doing.

I've been in radio for 43 years and counting, and I have never had any desire to be in management. None. I'm a news anchor and reporter, and I'm happy doing what I do. I feel privileged and blessed to be able to say that I have spent most of my adult life making my living doing something I love. I don't know many people who can say that. I make a decent living -- I can pay my bills -- but money has never been a big motivator for me. Professional contentment means more to me than money. I'm not responsible for anybody's work but my own, and I love being able to go home at the end of my day and not have to even think about the station till the next day. Managers can't say that.

Those exceptions I mentioned -- jocks and other creative types who do move into management -- most of the time are people who didn't really like what they were doing, weren't very good at it anyway and couldn't wait to move into sales, or be a PD or station manager. Where I work now, several on-air people have been "promoted" into management and to a person, they all hate it. Before they were "promoted" they looked forward to coming to work every day. Now they dread it.

"Creators" and "managers" are completely different types of people. Left brain versus right brain.

I can't prove it, but I believe the vast majority of successful managers and corporate types come from the business side of the station. The bean counters -- salesmen and sales managers. They understand all that stuff and I am happy to leave it to them to keep my paycheck from bouncing. I think it's also true that "corporate" doesn't actively recruit from the creative side.
 
I found, or rather, find, this topic and comments interesting. Addressing FilioScotia's comment about those who have been promoted into management only to find that they hate it - for myself, I would have to agree. I've been a PD several times (not to mention ND, MD, APD) each time moving to make a better move financially, only to find that each new gig was, in many ways, just like the last. I've found in my years doing this that PD actually means being a babysitter. Granted, as a PD, one of the primary responsibilities is to not only teach and train the talent, but to be their biggest cheerleader...but it's hard, at times, to cheer when you're the buffer between the talent and/or the GM/GSM. With this said, I truly miss the days when I could do my shift, as well as whatever else needed to be done, whether being production or what have you, then calling it a day - being able to leave when my day was done without having to worry about anyone but myself.

I am no longer a PD, and I really don't have any desire to be in management again, and while my current part-time gig working for Kevin helps pay the bills, the only thing that would make it better would be if it were full time.

As for the other comments - radio is what it is. I have stayed in radio for two reasons...the first is because I love it - while the second is because it's difficult, while not impossible, to transition to a different career, as potential employers look at you, and usually say the same thing - why do you want to get out of radio?

So, I like other's who have stayed in the business, the bottom line is I love this business...BTW, anybody have, or know of, any part-time slots anywhere?

Ed Travis
 
I'm not radio, just married into it, but I'm sickened by what I hear today on-air.

Imagine an industry, which use to take skill, talent and a gift of voice and timing most people aren't blessed with. Now imagine you've been in this industry for 20-30 years, a master of your skill. You can move between songs and commercials like butter, all manual and sounding as though you've been born doing this, and paid a salary that reflects this kind of talent. Now imagine one day a computer comes along that tells you what song to play next, when your next break is and what to say, and forgives your for being a total idiot. Also imagine an idustry that forgives people performing substandardly. Stumble on air, okay... Screw up a break or ad, sure whatever... Push the wrong button and have three minutes of dead air, well mistakes happen. Ramble like an idiot, well isn't that cute? All of a sudden the real talent is worth the price of a student with an associates degree who's willing to work for $24K a year. Thousands of kids want to be in radio, willing to work for pennies, and the real world uneducated kids running the joints have decided it's okay to have cheap talent rather than real talent. It's sad, so when you talk about the oldtimers complaining about where radio is going, consider what is happening to radio. It's not getting better, it's just getting cheaper and more profitable for the station owners because talent no longer matters.
 
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